Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is hawking Ukraine’s advanced drone technology to the US in an attempt to get back on the right side of US President Donald Trump.

“First, we are capable of producing at least 2,000 effective and combat-proven interceptors every day. We can produce more – it depends on investment. We need about 1,000 interceptors a day, and we can supply at least another 1,000 a day to our allies,” Zelenskiy said in London.

“Second, we know how to build radar and acoustic coverage to respond to how “shaheds” and other drones approach,” he added. “Third, we have software that allows radars to keep working even under electronic warfare jamming. In real time, we analyse enemy frequencies and respond to them.”

As bne IntelliNews reported, Iran has surprised the Pentagon with the power and sophistication of the thousands of drones it has unleased in Operation Epic Fury, leaving the coalition of Israel and America scrambling to find an effective response.

Bankova offer the White House a $50bn drone deal last year that was rejected, and Zelenskiy has been renewing that offer in the last two weeks. Trump is still resisting, saying: “We don’t need any help”. Instead, the US has introduced a new drone of its own, the Lucas drone that is a copy of Iran’s Shahed drone, which is yet to go into mass production.

As bne IntelliNews reported, it has become clear that Iran enjoys a significant advantage over the US in the cost-to-kill ratio: each Patriot interceptor missile costs $4mn, for which Iran can manufacture some 200-400 drones. Iran has been overwhelming US and Israeli defences, which are already running out of ammo.

That has changed the nature of war. The traditional “Command of the Commons” doctrine of deploying overwhelming force has given way to a “Command of the Reload” strategy, where an adversary outproduces the attacker and builds more cheap but “good enough” drones and missiles than interceptor missiles can bring down.

Ukraine’s drone technology is acknowledged as one of the best in the world, but production capacity is sitting idle due to the lack of investment. From a standing start in 2022, Ukraine now produces 60% of all its military needs, with a heavy focus on drones. However, Zelenskiy has said that Kyiv could as much as quadruple its output with more investment. An export ban on drones was lifted at the end of last year to encourage foreign investment into Ukraine’s drone production.

Yet Ukraine is out of favour with the Trump administration. Trump stated that the US is not obliged to assist Ukraine on March 18. He argued that Ukraine is “thousands of miles away” and separated by an ocean, so it does not require US help. He drew a comparison between Ukraine and Lebanon, saying, “They are already used to Lebanon being bombed. People live in Ukraine, too. I wouldn't do that, but they live there. And in Lebanon too.”

The end of the missile era

Zelenskiy put out his stall in a Nato meeting in London on March 18. “The era of missiles is over,” told UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Nato General Secretary Mark Rutte in public comments.

In addition to drone tech, Zelenskiy showcased an iPad that he said shows him the battlefield operations in real time, adding that he had gifted King Charles one of these iPads.

“I have an iPad on which I can see in real time every target in the sky, at sea, the situation on the front, and even see every enemy killed. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence, and the senior military command also have such a tablet. It also shows our long-range strikes on Russia,” said waiving the iPad around.

“We understand how effective our defence is against almost every attack drone, and we can move our positions and air defence to get better results. This iPad gives full control of the situation because we have a system for using our defence tools,” Zelenskiy said.

“If a “shahed” needs to be stopped in the Emirates – we can do it. If it needs to be stopped in Europe or the United Kingdom – we can do it. It is a matter of technology, investment, and cooperation. And the fact that we got through this winter – which Russia tried to make deadly for all our families – shows that our solutions work.”

Kyiv is expanding the use of low-cost interceptor drones to counter Russia’s growing reliance on mass drone attacks. The Ukrainian president also showcased an iPad that shows the entire Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) deployment and real-time action on the battlefield.

“I have one of these. The Prime Minister has one too. It’s a technology that can be rolled out to allow up to date management of the conflict,” Zelenskiy said.

Zelenskiy said the wide range of types of Ukrainian interceptor drones was changing the way wars are fought. “No one is carrying out missile strikes anymore,” as militaries increasingly shift towards large-scale drone deployment. Russia is currently launching between 350 and 500 drones a day against Ukraine and is seeking to increase that number significantly. At the same time, he reported that Russia is reducing its missile production as the Kremlin refocuses on drone production.

“Today, Russia conducts 350-500 drone attacks per day on Ukraine. Russia aims to reach 600-800 drones by 2026, but its goal is 1,000 drones per day,” Zelenskiy said. “This number should be shot down by interceptor drones, and 2,000 to 3,000 interceptors are needed.”

The relatively inexpensive interceptor drones have been emerging in the last year as the latest in the arms race between Russia and Ukraine in the drone war that began in early 2023. Designed to destroy incoming unmanned aerial vehicles, the Russian drones including Iranian-designed Shahed loitering munitions widely used by Russian forces. There are also reports of Russia sharing its latest updates to the Shahed drones with Iran, which has also upgraded its drone tech since last summer’s 12-day war with Israel.

“We are now number one in the world in these technologies,” Zelenskiy said. “What is our advantage? The fact that an interceptor drone costs $3,000 to 5,000. A Shahed costs $10,000, while a Patriot missile costs $4mn. Ukraine spends $10,000 to shoot down a drone, whereas a Middle Eastern country spends $4mn. This is the experience we offer.”

Zelenskiy also said that Russia had been preparing a major offensive expected to begin at the end of 2025 and continue into the spring, but that these plans had been partially disrupted by Ukraine’s advances in drone warfare.